Despite very wet and muddy course conditions, courtesy of a rainstorm that blasted the Bay Area Saturday, cross country runners from local high schools turned in strong performances during the De La Salle/Carondelet NIKE Cross Country Invitational in Concord.

The varsity girls completed the entire 3-mile course at Newhall Park, although there was plenty of sliding and falling on the main hill of the course. After watching the girls’ struggles, race officials decided to abbreviate the course to about 2.5 miles for the boys in order to avoid the hazardous hill.

Saratoga junior Steven Sum raced 14:02 over the shortened course, placing second to senior Blair Hurlock of host De La Salle by six seconds.

Sum was coming off a victory at the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League Preview Meet, in warmer, drier conditions at the 2.95-mile Crystal Springs course in Belmont on Sept. 10. Sum toured the course in 15:38, 15 seconds better than runner-up Chris Foster, a Los Gatos junior.

Monta Vista’s top runner was senior Zachary Patti, who placed 46th in 15:56.

In the girls varsity race, Archbishop Mitty sophomore Julia Lemak finished second out of 145 girls in 18:59, 16 seconds better than Monta Vista senior Bridget Gottlieb, who placed third. The winner was sophomore Brooke Starn (18:55), who led Monte Vista-Danville to second place in the team standings.

Junior Jenny Xu took sixth in 19:23 for the Matadors, who placed third as a team with 110 points. Monta Vista freshman Kelly Bishop placed 25th in 20:22. Mitty junior Nicole Asbun (20:33) was 29th, one place and one second better than sophomore teammate Erin Weiner. Monta Vista sophomore Madeleine Yip also ran 20:34 and placed 31st, and Monta Vista junior Julia Chang was 47th (21:04).

Preview Meet

Niki Surma of Los Gatos was the top freshman runner at the SCVAL Preview Meet, clocking 20:58, three seconds faster than Lauren Meier of Fremont.

The fastest girl at Crystal Springs was Gunn senior Sarah Robinson (18:30). Gottlieb was third in 18:58, Fremont senior Shelby Cox ninth in 20:33 and Chang 10th in 20:39.

Other locals in the top 20 were Fremont senior Raj Bhargava, 13th in 16:57, and Cupertino senior Kai Lanning, 18th in 17:12.

Monta Vista freshman Max Sawyer won a shorter 2.13-mile race, clocking 12:54 to top a field of 77. In the girls short race, Matadors Xu and Bishop ran 1-2 out of 81 racers. Xu’s 13:35 beat Bishop by 10 seconds.

Earlybird

The cross country season opened for most teams with the 19th annual Earlybird Invitational at Toro Park’s 3-mile course in Salinas.

Homestead’s Cooper Sloan won the senior boys division in 15:52 and helped the Mustangs edge Los Altos for a distant second behind Bellarmine in the team scoring, while Gottlieb finished third to lead Monta Vista to second in the senior girls race.

Monta Vista won the girls junior division title behind the second-place effort of Xu, who was an Earlybird champion as a freshman and sophomore. She ran 19:17. Grace Ling of Lynbrook ran 19:37 for third, five places ahead of Homestead’s Hannah Allen (19:57). Chang was 12th for Monta Vista at 21:00.

Lynbrook’s Robison was fourth among sophomore boys and sixth overall with his 16:39 effort. Another Viking, Shawn Silverman, placed eighth in 16:52, 10th overall and just ahead of Mohan (16:53).

Fremont’s Jacqueline Escalera finished ninth in the sophomore girls race at 19:39. Monta Vista’s Yip was 12th in 20:25, edging Fremont’s Mackenzie Cox by six seconds and Danielle Tatsuno of The King’s Academy by seven.

Monta Vista’s Sawyer (17:34) took third in the freshman boys race and Homestead was third in the team scoring, while Homestead’s Lindsay Allen (19:30) was the third in the girls race. Homestead’s Bryce Rausch was seventh in the boys race in 17:56.

Bishop was fourth among freshman girls in 19:47. Meier was 12th in 21:14 and Fremont teammate Kate Everhardt (21:40).

The post-game handshake between coaches Jack Del Rio of the Raiders and Andy Reid of the Chiefs eventually came off Thursday night, but it seemed for a while that there’s enough bad blood between the two that it might not happen. Once time ran out in the Chiefs’ 21-13 win that gave K.C. a leg up in the AFC West...